


i'll hold your music (here inside my hands)

by musicals_musicals



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, Developing Relationship, F/M, Light Angst, Music as a love language, Red String of Fate, Reggie is a math tutor, Time Skips, alex thinks luke is an absolute dumbass and hes right, flynn is unimpressed, julie and luke are both bi, julie is very dramatic, this is kinda a modern au i guess? cause like the boys are from the present?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:14:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27294769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicals_musicals/pseuds/musicals_musicals
Summary: "Your soulmate must love music just like you do”Julie is 3 years old, enthusiastically playing a small plastic piano, the first time she sees her string.It makes sense that music would connect her to her soulmate.orHow Julie finds her way back to music, joins a band, falls in love, and meets Luke Patterson (not necessarily in that order)
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina & Music, Julie Molina & Reggie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson, Minor or Background Relationship(s), blink and you miss it flynn/carrie
Comments: 118
Kudos: 581





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my fic that somehow went from a one chapter idea to a 3-4 chapter idea. this chapter is setting the stage for the rest of the fic so it has a lot of exposition and run on sentences i promise the whole fic isn't like that u just gotta bear with me a little.

Julie is 3 years old the first time she sees her string.

She was sitting on the floor in the living room, pounding on the small plastic keyboard that she got for her birthday from Tía Victoria, when she noticed it. A small red line, that slowly became more solid the longer she looked at it. She stopped what was supposed to be a rendition of Feliz Cumpleaños and stared at the string while the plastic piano played out the final string of music.

When she lifted her right hand the string followed along, one end attached to her pointer finger and the other disappearing into the wall. It was red and sparkly, reflecting the light that came in through the window. Out of curiosity she reached out and touched it, a little surprised when it felt just like a normal string, just a little softer. The music from the piano finally ran out, the final notes ringing out loudly before dropping the room into silence. She watched as the string started to fade. Within a few seconds it was gone, when Julie reached out to touch the place where it was the only thing she could feel was air. 

“Is something wrong with your piano, mija?” Her mom asked, having been alerted by the piano going silent for the first time since Julie started playing with it. She tossed a hand towel back onto the kitchen counter and leaned against the doorway, watching Julie with a small smile.

“No,” Julie shook her head and pushed on the keys of the piano so it let off more high pitched notes “there was a string. I think it was magic!”

“Really?” Julie’s mom sat down next to her and took her hand “That means you’re very special, mija. That string connects you to your soulmate, no matter where they are. Only a few people can see them”

“I can’t see it anymore” Julie waved her hand through the air in front of her hand again, but the string was still gone.

“Your soulmate must love music just like you do”

“Really?” Julie looked at the piano differently, it was pretty fun “I don’t even know how to play for real”

“If you really want to learn I would love to teach you,” Julie’s mom pointed to the adult piano across the room that Julie couldn’t reach “Someday you’ll even be big enough to play that one”

“Promise?”

“Promise. For now I could show you a song on your piano” Julie’s mom reached over and slowly played twinkle twinkle little star on the plastic piano causing it to make cheerful party noises.

Julie jumped into twinkle twinkle little star with all the enthusiasm of a three year old. Hopefully if she got good enough she would see the string again.

\-----

By the age of ten Julie has mostly figured out how the strings work. She still sees her own, sometimes. It continues to appear when she is playing music, but there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. When she is 6 it appears while she is playing piano for her fathers birthday, when she is 8 it shows up while she is practicing a pop song that Flynn wanted to duet for the talent show, when she is 10 is appears in the car while she is singing with her mom to the song on the radio. Her only theory is that maybe her soulmate also plays music and it only shows up when they are both playing.

_(“You’re telling me you can see it, but only sometimes?” Flynn was over for a sleepover, and in the dark of Julie’s room they had fallen into the topic of soulmates. They are 11 years old and Flynn’s cousin just brought her soulmate home the week before to visit._

_“Yeah,” Julie took Flynn’s hand and pointed to the spot on her pointer finger “I appears right here, fading into view before fading back out”_

_“So you’re just sitting on the couch watching tv and it appears?”_

_“It shows up when I’m playing music” Julie hadn’t meant to keep the string a secret from her best friend, she just forgot that Flynn didn’t know “But not all the time”_

_Flynn thought for a second “Maybe it’s because you and your soulmate are connected”_

_“Flynn, that’s like the definition of soulmates” Julie pointed out, absolutely lost on where Flynn thought she was going with this._

_“Shh no like–” Flynn waved her hands “Like, it can’t appear to only one of you, you both see it when it’s visible. You know how you only see it when you play music?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“So maybe they also have to be doing something they’re passionate about” Flynn explained “It needs to overlap”_

_“I bet they play music,” Julie realized. She remembers her mothers words from so long ago, telling her that her soulmate loves music and wonders how she didn't think of it sooner. That was the missing piece, it explained why there was never any consistency with when it appeared, but Julie was always playing music._

_Flynn snorted effectively breaking Julie’s concentration “Of course_ you _would have a soulmate bond based on music”)_

Over time Julie stops thinking about it, there's no point in worrying about it. They’ll find each other eventually, and until they do Julie has plenty to think about with music and school and her friends. 

She occasionally sees other people’s strings out of the corner of her eye. Her parents’ string trailing between them when they dance in the kitchen, Flynn and Carrie fighting over the remote while their string dances above their heads, Carlos’ string leading off into the oceans some days, and leading in land on others. It's always faint, as soon as she looks straight at it is disappears, but it's a nice reminder that everyone is connected, that there is someone on the other end of her own string, and that she's going to find them someday.

Julie starts writing songs with help from her mom, the two of them sitting at the piano with notebooks for hours, trading melodies and lyrics. Saturday morning becomes her favorite part of the week, because she spends the entire thing in the studio, telling her mom about her week and getting advice on anything from song writing to relationship troubles.

Then her mom dies, and the world stops. Julie doesn’t want to play music, instead of making her happy it just reminds her of her mother. She's drowning in the sadness and the _fear,_ drowning in the knowledge that she is never going to see her mother again.

“I’m sorry,” Julie whispers into the quiet of her room, staring at the place where the string used to appear “I can’t do it. I can’t play music anymore” If she doesn’t play music she'll never see the string again, but every time she sits at the piano the weight crushes her “I know that you love music like I–” Do? Used to? Want to? No words feel right. How do you tell someone you are giving up on them? That the one thing that tied you together is gone, and isn’t coming back. She doesn't want to end it like this, with nothing left to hold onto. 

“Maybe someday I’ll remember what it’s like to love music. Maybe you can show me”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ill be honest three chapters is a total shot in the dark. I think chapter two is mostly done but chapter three has been giving me trouble so i might have to add a scene in chapter two to fix it? also like a true dumbass i don't actually have a solid plan for the ending so it is fully possible whatever idea i have will require a fourth chapter.
> 
> anyway thanks for reading!!! i'm on tumblr @izzy-mccalla where i occasionally post about things that i am working on and i'll be making a pretty moodboard post for this so please rb it if you liked the fic! as usual kudos and comments are neat and will hopefully inspire me to finish part 3!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> julie finds her music, reggie is a math tutor, and luke is star struck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay i was SUPPOSED to wait a full week before posting this chapter BUT i have gotten so many kind comments and i am done with chapter 3, also today sucks and i am incredibly stressed out so bonus chapter for all of the wonderful people in the us who voted today/have already voted! if you live in the us and are of voting age but chose not to vote come back on friday you still have to wait.
> 
> in case you can't tell i'm super excited about this chapter!!! it has the scene that inspired me to write this fic and its overall just a fun time.

Julie steps into the studio and waits for the initial wave of heartbreak to pass before continuing further inside. Carlos needs one of the plants that sits behind the piano for a science project, and she is the only one who can get it because he’s currently elbow deep in potting soil and her dad isn’t home. 

Julie stops at the piano, reaches out to touch the smooth top lightly. It doesn’t hurt as much, anymore. She thinks about her soulmate, have they been thinking about her? She hasn’t seen the string in over a year, which means they probably haven’t either. Did they notice when she stopped playing? Are they mad at her?

Julie turns away from the piano and walks to the back of the room to look at the plants, grabbing one at random. When she goes to leave she notices papers that have been piled on the bench, hidden beneath the piano. It’s probably just some old sheet music from school, or some of her mom’s notes. It’ll just make her sad, then she won’t come into the studio for another 8 months.

Julie determinedly walks past the bench without looking at the papers, but the curiosity is killing her.

“Ugh, fine” She drops the plant on the end of the piano and runs back to the bench, gathering the papers in her hand and spreading them out on the piano and  _ oh wow _ . Julie covers her mouth with her hands “Mom” the words are watery, she can already feel tears gathering in her eyes because it’s a song, and more importantly it’s a song  _ for her _ .

She wants to play it, so she does. Dusting off the piano for the first time in months and putting her entire heart into it because it hurts but it also feels like coming home (especially when she catches sight of a red string trailing from her hand during the second verse).

\-----

When Julie walks back into the house she feels settled in a way that she hasn’t felt since her mom died. For the first time in months she actually wants to play music and write songs, and she actually feels ready to play piano in class on Monday to keep her spot in the music program.

“Carlos I got your– who the hell are you?” Julie stops in the living room because of all things there is a teenage boy who she’s never seen before standing next to her couch.

“Hi, I’m Reggie” He smiled and held out a hand for Julie to shake before realizing her hands are full with the potted plant “I’m Carlos’ new math tutor”

“Oh right of course. I’m Julie” Julie nods her head and does her best to pretend she knows what he’s talking about. Math tutor? She does remember her dad mentioning something about Carlos needing to get his math grades up, and that he and Tía were looking for a tutor. It would’ve been nice if her dad had mentioned that said tutor was going to be there tonight. She examines the boy (Reggie, apparently). He’s wearing a plain white shirt with a leather jacket and a red flannel tied around his waist. “You look familiar”

“I think we go to the same school. I’m a Senior” Reggie says and  _ yeah that explains it _ Julie finally manages to place him in the school hallway outside the music room. Where she bumped into him and two other guys one time when she stayed late.

“Are you in the music program?”

“Yep, I play bass” Reggie mimed what Julie assumed to be bass playing.

“I never would’ve guessed you tutored” The words slip out before she has time to fully think them through. Luckily he doesn’t look offended, just continues to smile at her.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. I’m not really a math nerd” Reggie laughed “I’m just good with kids”

“I’m back!” Carlos comes running out of the stairwell with his backpack and a smaller bag that he used to play ghost hunter. He tripped slightly on the rug before righting himself and tossing the bag next to the kitchen table “And I brought my ghost hunting stuff”

“Awesome!” Reggie high fived Carlos “We better get that math homework done fast so we can catch any pesky ghosts that are hanging out. Can you get the worksheet out? I’ll meet you at the table”

“It was nice to meet you,” Julie put down the plant on the coffee table (it looked good there anyway) since Carlos probably wasn’t going to get back to the science project tonight.

“You too,” Reggie shook her hand “Feel free to hang out in the kitchen with us” Reggie paused, as though reconsidering “Although I will have to kick you out if you become a distraction”

Julie snorted “Okay Teach” Maybe she would stop by later once they were on the ghost hunting portion, for now she had homework to get to, and wanted to write down a few song ideas she got from her mom’s piece. She ended up bringing her homework downstairs, listening to Reggie coach Carlos through his math assignment for the day and a few makeup assignments. It made the house feel alive in a way that had been lacking (though that might be due to her moment in the studio).

\-----

“Mrs. Harrison?” Julie knocked on the edge of the open doorway and looked inside the empty music classroom “Are you still here?”

“Julie? What are you doing here?” Mrs. Harrison asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, totally” Julie smiled. She fiddled with the yellow folder in her hands “I was wondering if I could maybe use the piano in here for a little while? I think I just had a breakthrough on this song that I’ve been working on, but my dad is having a business meet in our studio and–”

“It’s no problem, Julie” Mrs. Harrison interrupted with a soft smile “I need to go pick up some forms from the office and talk to Lisa at the front desk. Will that be enough time?”

“Yes!” Julie exhaled in relief “Thank you so much!”

“Just don’t tell anyone I left you in here alone. I’m technically not supposed to” Mrs. Harrison winked, letting Julie in the music room and walking out, shutting the door softly.

\----

Julie sits at the piano and lays out the sheet music. This piano doesn’t feel exactly like the one at home, but it’s still familiar. She hits a few notes, to get the feel of things before launching into the song. She stumbled a few times on the lyrics, taking mental note of things she wanted to change, and what was working well.

In between the second verse and chorus Julie hears what sounded like arguing from the halls, along with slamming and running (one of the downsides of practicing in a high school). She quickly pushes it from her mind, doubling down on the music instead.

She finishes the song with an extra flourish, winding down the final notes. She takes a deep breath and the song ends, leaving the room in silence for exactly two seconds before the door slams open. A disheveled boy with brown hair bursts through first like an excited puppy, Julie just has time to think  _ he’s really cute _ before he darts speaking.

“That was amazing!” He skids to a stop next to Julie and stares at her “Did you write that?”

Julie blinks. He is standing incredibly close to the piano bench considering she doesn’t even know his name.  _ Well this is unexpected _ “Um, yes?”

“I am so sorry,” A tall blonde boy walks into the studio, and rolls his eyes before grabbing cute boy by the sleeve to give Julie some space “I tried to stop him”

“Uh-huh,” Julie nods slowly. She wasn’t exactly sure what the proper course of action was when a boy bursts into the music room to tell you how amazing he thinks you are. Considering she doesn’t know either of their names, introductions seem like a safe place to start “I’m Julie”

“Alex,” He holds out his hand and Julie shakes it, taking note of the fraying rainbow bracelet around his wrist. Alex pulls away and points at the cute boy “That’s Luke”

“Julie, you have a beautiful voice” Luke says in a burst, like he was going to explode if he didn’t get to say anything. Julie blushes a little because he looks stupidly sincere. Like who actually says  _ that _ to another person?

The sound of footsteps echoed in the hall followed by a voice, “I turn around for one second and you both book it down the hall”

Julie perks up because that voice she recognizes “Reggie?”

“Julie?” Reggie tilts his head and looks questioningly at the other guys “You sprinted down the hall like mad men to find Julie?”

“You know her?” Luke looked between them a few times like they are a really complicated puzzle “Since when?”

“He tutors my little brother,” Julie steps around Luke and Alex in order to high five Reggie. She hasn’t seen him in a few weeks since Carlos seems to have figured out math for the time being.

“Was that a new song?” Reggie asks glancing at the papers on the piano “It sounded good”

“You knew she wrote kick ass songs and you didn’t tell me?” Luke exclaims.

“Okay, dude chill” Alex sighs and pushes Luke back a few feet “It’s nice to meet you. Luke means well he’s just… excited”

“I get flustered around raw talent” Luke cuts in, pointedly ignoring Alex’s eye roll.

Julie stares at Luke in disbelief and she is sure that Reggie and Alex are doing the same.

“So,” Alex says slowly, squinting at Luke before hesitantly turning to Julie “Do you maybe want to get coffee with us at that place down the block? I’m sure Luke can pull it together enough to act like a normal human being, instead of a character from a rom com”

Julie bursts into laughter, “That sounds great”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> luke being an absolute dumbass bc he's flustered by julie's amazingness is very important to me. 
> 
> you'll notice the chapter count went up! chapter 4 is going to be a bunch of small scenes from across a bigger timeframe to serve as a bit of an epilogue. i swear this time i'm actually going to wait a week before posting the next chapter (probably) bc i know thats the logical thing to do i'm just very excited about this fic.
> 
> as usual come yell at me about this fic on tumblr ([@izzy-mccalla](http://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/)) and kudos and comments are neat!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> flynn is the best (best) friend and gives unhelpful logical advice, luke is very (very) cute, and julie is kinda maybe ~~in love~~ screwed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome back everyone! this is out a little later than i was expecting it to be bc i was having timeline issues, but after fiddling with it for four days i think they have been resolved!

“Hey Julie, why did you call 91– Oh” Flynn pauses in the doorway as she takes in the sight that is Julie, collapsed face down on her bed “What on earth happened to you?”   


Julie groans and rolls over “Did you know Luke is in a band with Reggie and Alex?”

Flynn smirks (an inappropriate reaction to Julie’s very real crisis) and sits down on the edge of the bed “Oh so this is a  _ Luke  _ problem”

_ Betrayal. _ Julie kicks in the general direction of Flynn, which she immediately regrets when Flynn pushes her legs off the bed and she has to struggle not to fall on the ground. “Are you going to help or just continue to mock me?”

“Both”

That was probably the best Julie could hope for “Luke took me to the studio where they practice”

“Was it gross?” Flynn’s face scrunches up.

“No, it was actually pretty nice” Julie had liked the space, there was a piano Julie was dying to play, and it even smelled surprisingly good considering her experiences in Carlos’ room, though Julie failed to find out who was responsible for the scented candles scattering the shelves. “I think it would be a good place to hang out”

“Okay, so the problem is–” Flynn prompts, waving her hand in a circular motion.

“Luke writes songs, and they performed one of them for me” Julie knew that Luke liked music, but it was one thing to know that and another to see it. She finally understood what it meant when people talked about seeing someone in their element, seeing Luke play guitar, and explain the song to Alex and Reggie (and Julie, who found herself ignoring her english homework in favor of sitting next to Reggie on the floor), then seeing them all perform and watching Luke get lost in the music, and listening to his singing voice. “It was so beautiful”

“Okay, so the problem is–” Flynn repeats, because she always knows when Julie is stalling.

Julie sighs as loudly as possible “I think I have a crush on him”

Flynn nods in understanding “Music is the fastest way into your heart” 

As usual Flynn is… not wrong “What should I do?”

“Other than ask him out?”

Never mind Flynn is absolutely wrong “I am not asking him out!”

“I bet he’s your mysterious music soulmate” Flynn teased, laughing at her own joke

Julie wasn’t even going to dignify that with a response, instead she shot Flynn her best death glare, which just made her laugh harder.

**\--------**

In a true feat of persuasion, Julie had managed to talk her way into spending fifth hour in the library instead of in class. Unfortunately she had taken a hard detour from working on her final project, when she made the mistake of sitting next to Luke. Final project discarded off to the side, she was instead caught in a debate about songwriting methods.

“Wait, you’re telling me that you write melodies, then come up with lyrics?” Luke squinted at her across the table “That can’t work”

Julie laughed (quietly because they were in the library) and rushed to explain “No like I write lyrics down when I come up with them and I record melody ideas when I think of them, then like, I put them together”

Luke considered her words for a few seconds “So like, you build the two parts separately?”

Julie snapped her finger and pointed at him “Yes”

“I suppose that makes a little more sense” Luke conceded, he scooted his chair around the circular table so he could see what she had been pointing at on her notebook “So that’s why you have the post-it notes with music notes on here?”

Julie looked down at her notebook, she could definitely see how it would be confusing to someone other than her. It wasn’t the most straight forward system but it worked. “Yeah, that way I can also tweak stuff more easily”

“I always just take lyrics I’ve written and come up with melodies from there,” Luke traced over the music notes on the bottom of the page, humming an approximation of the tune.

“I’ve tried that before,” Julie admitted, it was how Flynn liked to look at songs so whenever they worked together their different methods blended together “I hit a lot of dead ends when I start with lyrics. I learned from my mom who always wrote melodies first so I’m not used to doing it backwards”

“Maybe you just need practice” Luke pointed out “I’m sure I would need loads of practice if I was going to use your method, or your mom’s”

Julie would never say it out loud but she appreciated how Luke didn’t linger on the topic of her mom. Usually when she mentioned her mom in conversation people would side track the conversation to apologize or talk about how sad it was. It didn’t even seem like he was doing it on purpose, like the idea of pitying her didn’t even occur to him. “Maybe we can practice together”

“That would be great,” Luke grinned at her over the notebook, setting off butterflies in Julie’s stomach. He was very very cute and she was very very screwed.

**\--------**

It had been exactly two weeks since Julie’s first visit to the studio (and subsequent freak out with Flynn) and she had the routine down. She would walk the eight blocks with the guys, joking with them and occasionally debating Luke on anything from songwriting to ice cream flavors, then take up residence on the beat up black couch in the back corner, spreading out her stuff to do homework while the band rehearsed. Some days she actually worked on said homework, other days she jotted down song ideas and small bits of lyrics that she thought of, or doodled in her notebook while watching the guys play.

It was a surprisingly productive atmosphere, she could just fall into the work, eyes drifting over to the band (Luke) when she needed a break to think. Her dad didn’t believe her and had voiced his concerns a few times, but as long as her grades didn’t drop he didn’t actively stop her doing her homework at the studio.

“Julie?” At some point while Julie was distracted with her math homework rehearsal had ended. Reggie had disappeared and she could faintly hear Alex talking to someone on the phone outside the studio, leaving her alone with Luke.

“What’s up?” She cleared away the textbooks that had taken over the couch, shoving them into her backpack along with the half finished math homework.

“So you know how there’s a piano over there,” Luke pointed to the grand piano that Julie had been itching to play ever since she first saw it, “I have this song I’ve been working on that would fit your voice perfectly, and I was thinking we could play it and you could maybe help me finish it” He hesitated before carefully handing over his notebook.

“Oh,” Julie took the notebook carefully. Luke didn’t seem to enjoy letting other people see his notebook (same as Julie), and she was touched he trusted her with it. Even though they had talked about songwriting they had never actually done it together and it was cool to see how different his song book looked different. Scribbles in different shades of balck and blue pen ink mixed with pencil, chords on the sides and over lines, and a faintly written piano part below the lines. “This already looks amazing, are you sure you want my help?”

“Of course,” Luke took her hand and lead her to the piano, sitting on the bench next to her “I tried to pencil in a piano part,” He leaned over to point at the notes, arm brushing against Julie’s own “but it’s probably really simple compared to what you’re used to, I don’t have a lot of experience with piano”

He had moved away from her when he mentioned the piano part so Julie leaned over and bumped their shoulders together, reestablishing the point of connection “Doesn’t have to be complex, just has to sound good” The words did exactly what Julie had been hoping, Luke’s nervous and pensive frown was replaced with one of his blinding smiles that kinda made Julie think about kissing him.

“Dude, I think they’re having a moment,” Reggie whispered. Julie jumped, accidentally slamming her arm into the keys of the piano before spinning around to find Alex and Reggie standing in the doorway staring at them.

“Really guys?” Luke sighed, dropping his head into his hands without turning away from the piano “Did you need something?”

“Well I was planning to grab my backpack, but we can always come back later if you want to finish having your moment” Alex offered, raising his eyebrows while Reggie winked (was everyone in on Flynn’s “mock Julie and Luke until they get their shit together” plan?).

Julie considered arguing that they were in fact  _ not  _ having a moment, but it would probably be a lie. Instead she grabbed Alex’s backpack from the corner and threw it at him a little harder than necessary “Backpack acquired”

“Thanks Julie!”

Reggie grabbed his own backpack from where it was next to the door and waved “Bye guys! See you tomorrow”

Luke waited a few seconds before speaking “I am so sorry about that. Are they gone?”

“Yes,” Julie sat back on the piano bench and actually read over what Luke had written, trying out the melody on the piano. “Is this the chorus?”

“Yeah,” Luke circled the first verse and pre chorus with his finger “I was thinking the song could open with just you on the piano then–”

“Why Luke Patterson are you trying to recruit me?” Julie interrupted. It wouldn’t be the first time, considering the day they met he spent the entire walk to the coffee shop trying to convince her to join and quote  _ the greatest band in the world _ . Although enough things had changed since then that Julie was probably more open to the idea, especially with the whole soulmate thing still on the table and feeling slightly less terrifying the better she got to know Luke.

“Maybe a little bit,” Luke admitted, “I just had this idea, of you opening in the song, then the rest of us jumping in later, it would sound so good, and if I get to sing with you that's just a bonus”

Julie looked away to try to hide her smile “I don’t know–”

Luke reached out his hand, giving Julie a chance to pull away before softly touching her face, and tilting it a little bit to meet her eye “I’m not asking you to commit to anything now, even if you never join the band, I still really want to write this song with you” 

Luke’s hand is warm, so she reaches up to cover it with her own. Somehow he always knows what to say when it matters. 

Realistically Julie is aware that she hadn’t known Luke for very long, and that she probably hasn’t actually fallen in love with him yet, but it only felt like a matter of time. Every new thing she learned about Luke made her want to learn more. Not long ago the idea of playing music with him felt so big, like a line Julie wasn’t prepared to cross, but something had changed. After all, if he was her soulmate, this didn’t seem like a bad way to find out, and even though it would be something new and difficult they could figure it out together. And if they played the song and he wasn’t the person at the end of her string, things wouldn’t change, she would still want to love him. “In that case, let’s do this. Can we play through what you have first?”

Luke smiled at her before running over to grab his guitar, and sitting back on the bench facing away from the piano so they both fit. “From the start?”

“From the start,” Julie carefully played the intro to the song, it was a good thing the piano part was relatively simple considering she had only read through it a couple of times. She stumbled a bit going into the first verse, but plowed through “Sometimes I think I'm falling down…” From the corner of her eye she could see Luke nodding along, waiting for his time to come in. “Together I think that we can make it, come on, let's run”

The guitar by itself didn’t have the same effect as the entire band, but Julie could imagine what it would sound like with the bass and drums. As it was it still gave the song a nice boost, changing the energy from hopeful and soft, to something louder and more alive. It was surprisingly unique. Luke started signing the second verse and Julie risked a look at her hand.

There was a faint shimmer in the air, red string fading into view. Instead of leading off into the piano, or straight behind Julie, it curved around her diagonally in the direction of Luke.

Julie couldn’t bring herself to turn around. What if it wasn’t him? What if it was? She finishes the song on autopilot, taking note of how thrown together the last verse felt in between crises.

With only a few more seconds before the string faded completely Julie looked over her shoulder, following the path of the string to Luke’s hand on his guitar. He was looking between her and her hand where it holds the final note on the piano, his face a mix of awe, joy, and something that Julie couldn’t quite identify.

She searches for something to say to break the silence. Instead of mentioning the mind blowing, life changing discovery what comes out is just, “I uh– I think you should cut the last verse and end on the chorus”

Luke blinks at her a few times before his face breaks into a huge grin and he jumps to his feet, pulling her along by the hand to spin her around “Julie you are a genius! That’s why I could never get the ending right!” 

Dancing in the studio with Luke, with the final glimmers of their string disappearing from view, Julie decides that destiny can wait for a little longer. They have a song to finish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you may have noticed i added a minor/background relationship tag for alex/willie because like it is happening and is referenced a couple of times but this fic doesn't really focus on it (although,,, self promo if you are looking for alex/willie content you should go read my other fic)
> 
> anyway thank you to everyone who left kind comments on the first 2 chapters i love and appreciate all of you. chapter 4 is pretty much done assuming i don't run into any road blocks while editing so it should be up at some point within the next week!
> 
> at this point it's been 3 chapters, i'm sure we all know the drill: comments and kudos are fun! come yell at me/rb the fic post on tumblr [@izzy-mccalla](http://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/) thank you for reading and have a wonderful evening!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bi rights, redbubble stickers, and flynn continues to be iconic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is the end,,,, thank you to everyone who has supported this fic over the last month i really appreciate it. this chapter is kinda like an epilogue? with a bunch of small little scenes of things that happen after

Finding out that Luke is her soulmate changes everything, and nothing, all at the same time.

After they finish the song they do discuss what the best course of action would be. Most people never know who their soulmate is since it’s so rare for someone to be able to see the strings, and there are plenty of horror stories about relationships that crumbled under the expectation. Julie doesn’t want to date Luke just because he’s her soulmate, that isn’t enough to build a relationship on (even if she did have a crush on him before).

The concept of weekly hangouts was Luke's idea. Every week they take a moment to catch up and spend some time together. Sometimes they do something fancy, like go to a coffee shop, or check out local music, more often they do something simple, like hang out after rehearsal in the studio to write songs, or watch an episode or two of something on Netflix. They’re kind of like dates, except more casual. No expectations.

This week Julie’s dad had to take Carlos to parent teacher conferences so they’re sitting at the kitchen table, music playing faintly from Julie’s bluetooth speaker while she carefully paints Luke’s nails in the colors of the bi pride flag (matching her own).

“Hey Jules?” Julie pauses where she was opening the pink nail polish and hums for him to continue before taking out the brush “I was wondering if you would want to meet my parents?”

“Oh,” Julie pulls the nail polish brush away from Luke's hand so she doesn’t zone out and paint the back of his hand. She doesn’t know very much about Luke’s parents, except that he hasn’t always had the best relationship with them. While Luke has met her dad plenty of times, that doesn’t mean she _has_ to meet his parents as soon as possible. She doesn’t want him to jump into something because he feels like they have to. With that in mind she chooses her words carefully “Would you want me to meet them?”

“We haven’t always had the best relationship,” Without thinking Luke reaches up to rub the back of his head with the hand that she had just been painting, but Julie quickly grabs it before he could get nail polish in his hair. Luke smiles gratefully at her, lacing their fingers together instead “They don’t want me playing music and it was really bad for a while– I lived in the studio for a few weeks– but we’re trying. I still love them, and you’re really important to me, so they should know you”

 _You’re really important to me_. “If you want me to meet them I would love to”

Luke nodded “I do want you to meet them”

“Then give me a time and a date and I’ll be there” Julie promises, Luke has stopped fidgeting so she grabs the nail polish brush again, holding it out in question until he nods for her to continue. “Do they know…” Julie trails off, unsure what exactly she was trying to ask.

“My mom caught me talking to you on the phone a few weeks ago, so they know you exist.” Luke admits, in the back of her mind Julie once again worried that he was having her meet them out of obligation, but she quickly shut it down. If Luke said he wants her to meet them, then he wants her to meet them. “They don’t know about the soulmate thing”

“We don’t have to tell them,” Julie offered, closing up the nail polish bottles now that she is done with them.

Luke looked at his hands in appreciation before leaning over to kiss her on the cheek “I think I want to tell them”

\---------

Julie knew it was a bad sign when Flynn took one look at a new song she had just written and immediately gave her that _look_. Julie had written it a few days ago and had forgotten she left it on the desk.

“How have you still not kissed him?”

If Julie had been holding anything she would’ve dropped it, as it was she nearly ran into the doorframe trying to steal the song away from Flynn “What!? I– no...” Julie squinted at her best friend “How did you know?”

“I have known you for ten years, also this song has the word “kiss” in it at least fourteen times” Flynn pointed out, handing over the paper. Julie examined the song, she did tend to put her emotions into her songs, and it did have a lot of references to kissing.

“Okay that is maybe not my finest moment” Julie admitted “I’ve just been thinking about it recently”

“So why don’t you go for it,” Flynn was the first person she told about the whole soulmate thing, and had subsequently been the person to bring her down to earth when she freaked out about it, promising that Julie didn’t actually have to date Luke if she didn’t want to. “Or did you two arrange like a grace period where you have to wait 2 months before attempting romance” Flynn had also been the first person she told about her not-dates with Luke, and while she respected the fact that they were being careful, she still found the concept ridiculous after hearing all of Julie’s pining.

“Ha-ha funny” Julie rolled her eyes “I don’t want to rush things”

“Listen, Jules” Flynn said, carefully touching Julie’s shoulder “I don’t put faith in men very often, but Luke isn’t going to run away Jules, he really likes you”

“But what if it ruins everything” Julie knew it was unlikely, but she couldn’t get the idea out of her head. Losing Luke would suck, it had been hard enough to find her music after she lost her mom… if she lost Luke and the band she was sure it would be even harder to find it a second time.

Flynn grabbed Julie by the shoulders to look her dead in the eye, her words precise “Then you can fix it together"

 _Together_. Julie liked that. Luke wasn’t the kind of person to give up on someone and Julie wasn’t either. “I’ll talk to him”

“Good choice”

**\-------**

Something was going on. Luke, Reggie, and Alex had all been acting weird and Julie was determined to get to the bottom of it. Luke kept smiling at her randomly, she’d noticed his eyes on her a few times during rehearsal in between physics problems, and they would sometimes huddle in a group together whispering about something she couldn’t hear. Even Flynn was acting weird, exchanging smiles with Alex and high fiving Reggie behind her back. They were conspiring on something, but for the life of her Julie couldn’t figure out what it was.

The weirdness finally came to a head on friday afternoon, when Julie, who had to stay late at school to ask her math teacher a question about their upcoming test, walked into the studio, expecting them to be mid song, or to hear Luke softly playing chords while he tried to explain something, but instead found the boys standing around the piano, hovering over a small blue gift box.

As soon as Julie opened the door they all looked at her, watching as she dropped her backpack on the couch and walked over to join them “What’s up?”

Luke slid the box to the edge of the piano “We got you something”

“Okay…” Julie carefully picked up the box, it was super light, if she didn’t know any better she would’ve assumed it was empty “Should I open it now?”

The boys exchanged a look before nodding enthusiastically.

Julie examined the box, untying the white ribbon and letting it fall on the piano. The box looked like one of the jewelry boxes that the local gift store had, sky blue with a small darker blue swirl in the bottom corner, judging by the fact that the ribbon was white (the ones they used were always blue) and the corners looked a little dinged. It was probably just what they had on hand. She lifted the top of the box to find a small black piece of glossy paper sitting on top of the foam. She picked it up to get a closer look. It was a sticker? About the size of a quarter, a curvy white line over a black background, it almost looked like… “Is this the sunset curve logo?” She had never seen a version that didn’t say sunset curve, but the longer she looked at it the more sure she was.

“Yes it is,” Luke said, clarifying nothing.

“Tell your friends!” Reggie said, also clarifying nothing.

“We got it for you because we thought you could put it on your microphone, the white one you always draw on” Alex explained

“Okay…” Julie repeated, this seemed like a lot of pizzazz for a sticker that probably cost 2 dollars off of redbubble. She was a little surprised they even knew about her microphone as she hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to use it recently.

“This is your official invitation to join the band and–” Luke pointed to the sticker in Julie’s hand “–the reason the sticker doesn’t say _Sunset Curve_ is because if you accept we are planning to rebrand”

 _Wow._ It was a lot to take in, her joining the band had been talked about a little, but it had never been a serious topic and this was real. Flynn had definitely been involved and Julie would have to remember to thank her. She traced the curve on the sticker, she did really love playing with Luke (and Alex and Reggie, though she had only done so a few times), and at this point she and Luke probably had enough songs written together to fill an album. It would be a time commitment, she already spent the afternoons in the studio, but she would be losing valuable homework time, although the semester was almost over and she was on track to have a study hall for second semester.

In the end it was an easy decision, “I would love to join” Julie said, laughing as the boys buried her in a group hug.

**\------**

At exactly 10:24pm Julie receives a text from Luke. It’s too long for her phone to show in the normal messaging app, and when she hits “Show All” she is slammed with a block of text far too long considering she was about to turn the light off and go to sleep. She reads it slowly. From what she can tell something went down with Luke’s parents, and in between apologies for waking her, and being a bother, she is 90% sure he is asking if he can come over. She can already feel him overthinking so she unlocks her window, and just sends a message telling him that it’s open.

Julie busies herself by picking up the book that she’d been meaning to read for months, keeping the edges of her attention on her window. After about ten minutes have passed she hears a couple scraping noises, and then her window is sliding open. Luke doesn’t have a car, and his house is about a 20 minute walk from Julie’s, so he must’ve left before he texted her, despite not having anywhere to go.

Luke climbs slowly through the window, careful not to make a sound (which is good because her father would have a fit if he knew what was going on and Carlos would never let her live it down). She meets him halfway, offering a hand to help him stand up. He takes it, holding her tightly. When he looks up she can’t help the small gasp that escapes because he looks terrible. His eyes are wet, mouth twisted into a frown that makes her heart ache. He’s even holding himself differently, like he’s trying to be as small as possible. “Julie I–”

She pulls him into a tight hug and he practically melts, leaning against her and bunching up his hands in the back of her shirt. She steps backwards, pulling him with her and making him sit on the bed before his legs go out “Luke what happened?”

“We –my parents and I– had a fight. It’s been building for a while but tonight it all finally exploded” Luke takes a deep breath and pulls away from the hug to wipe his eyes “It’s always about the music, but tonight it was like– my mom thinks I don’t love her because I won’t give up music. Because I can’t give up a part of myself to make her happy, even thought it would make me miserable”

“I’m so sorry,” It doesn’t feel like enough, but Julie doesn’t know what else to say. She’s always had a great relationship with her parents, and they always supported her when she wanted to try new things.

“No matter how hard I try I can’t make them understand, I never have the right words” Luke pauses “And now they don’t even believe that I love them”

“Have you tried writing them a song?” Julie might not have the parent experience, but she knows how it feels when you just can’t find the words. (She absolutely does not think of the section of her dream box dedicated to songs about Luke).

“They wouldn’t listen to a song” The way he dodges the question is answer enough that there is a song.

“You won’t know unless you try” Luke hums a little but doesn’t respond, so Julie decides to change the subject. This can wait until tomorrow, when they aren’t exhausted. “Do you want to spend the night here? This will probably feel a little less terrible in the morning” Everything feels worse when you’re tired, and Luke looks exhausted.

“I might go to the studio, I don’t want to get you in trouble” 

Julie is not letting him walk to the studio in the dark. “You’ll stay here. As long as you sleep on the couch my dad won’t care” Okay, he might care a little when he found Luke sleeping on the couch in the morning, but Julie was sure as soon as she explained what was going on he would understand

“Okay, thank you. For everything” Luke gave her a shaky smile and squeezed her hand.

“Of course,” Julie takes a chance and leans over to kiss Luke on the cheek, causing his smile to brighten “We can fix it in the morning”

(in the morning Luke silently passes her a crumpled piece of paper that looks like it has been folded and unfolded hundreds of times over breakfast. Julie cries when she reads it and drags him out back to the studio so they can work on it and Luke can practice playing it until he feels ready. In the afternoon she walks Luke back to his house and stands next to him when he freezes at the door, offering emotional support until he feels ready to press the doorbell)

\------

Julie stood outside the venue for what was about to be the bands first public performance since Julie joined and they rebranded. The cafe was way fancier than Julie had been expecting, Flynn and Luke must have pulled some serious strings to get them on the list. She made her way backstage, walking past multiple people wearing suits (supposedly there were a lot of agents who hung out to see new bands).

As soon as Julie got backstage she was accosted by Flynn who shoved a piece of paper in her hands.

_JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS_

_(tell your friends)_

The business card looks amazing, though Julie laughs a little when she reads the name. It took them weeks to decide on a new band name, the idea for Julie and the Phantoms started as a joke when Carlos “caught” Alex in one of his ghost traps, but it ended up sticking. Flynn had even added a small purple ghost outline on the right side of the card.

“These look amazing,” Julie said, handing the card back to Flynn for safe keeping.

“Hopefully they’ll get a lot of use tonight” Flynn nudged Julie with her elbow, then paused before grabbing the edge of the leather vest Julie had picked out to wear “This is super cute! You look amazing by the way”

“Thanks,” Julie looked down to where she knew the dahlia was on the shoulder “I’ve been working through mom’s old clothes”

“She would love that,” Flynn tugged Julie forward for their customary pre-show hug, before pulling away pointing behind Julie’s back “The guys are over there”

Julie followed Flynn’s vague directions to the edge of the stage and found Luke and Reggie tuning together, while Alex talked to some dude with long hair off to the side.

“Julie!” Reggie smiled and gave her an awkward side hug despite his instrument “You ready?”

“Super ready,” Julie went into the day expecting to feel nervous, but it didn’t happen. She was just excited, she had a great band and they had a great song. She gestured behind them “Who’s Alex talking to?”

“He won’t tell us,” Luke said, rolling his eyes.

“We think it’s the boyfriend” Reggie whispered, “Skater boy”

“Really?” Julie looked back at Alex with renewed interest “He’s cute”

“Julie and the Phantoms, this is your five minute call, five minutes”

Alex turned back to the band, pleased expression turning to a tired glare when he noticed his audience “Could you not”

“We have no idea what you’re talking about” Luke lied, leaning over to mess up Alex’s hair “Better get on stage”

“Rude” Alex huffed, slapping Luke’s arm away and fixing his hair before stepping on stage.

Julie took Luke’s hand before following, savoring the small point of contact. In a split second decision Julie pulls Luke forward, catching his eye in a question before kissing him quickly and walking into the lights on stage. Luke stands frozen, a surprised and pleased look on his face, until she takes her seat at the piano and he hurries to get to his mic. Julie smiles at each of the guys (Alex rolls his eyes at her fondly, Reggie winks horribly, and Luke continues to look stunned) and Flynn (who’s face very clearly says _I told you so_ ) before beginning to play.

“Hearts on fire, we're no liars…”

When the rest of the band came in she could see her string glowing into view, connecting her to Luke. For a second it feels like she is 3 years old again, watching her string appear for the first time. She can feel her mother watching over her fondly, smiling and encouraging her to hold on to music. 

_I held on mom. I did it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we made it! thank you to everyone who has been reading, especially if you are one of the many wonderful people who has left a comment. if you liked this consider checking out my other fics here on ao3 and perhaps follow me on tumblr ([@izzy-mccalla](http://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/)) as i occasionally post writing there that doesn't make it to ao3.
> 
> as usual comments and kudos are neat and if you are on tumblr it would be snazzy if you reblogged the post about this fic thats pinned at the top on my tumblr since it has external links and won't show up in the tag

**Author's Note:**

> ill be honest three chapters is a total shot in the dark. I think chapter two is mostly done but chapter three has been giving me trouble so i might have to add a scene in chapter two to fix it? also like a true dumbass i don't actually have a solid plan for the ending so it is fully possible whatever idea i have will require a fourth chapter.
> 
> anyway thanks for reading!!! i'm on tumblr [@izzy-mccalla](http://izzy-mccalla.tumblr.com/) where i occasionally post about things that i am working on and i'll be making a pretty moodboard post for this so please rb it if you liked the fic! as usual kudos and comments are neat and will hopefully inspire me to finish part 3!


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